RAYMOND D. NASHER ACQUIRES THE TRAGEDY OF LIFE BY BOLESLAW BIEGAS
12/12/2005 12:00:00 AM
Dallas, TX – Raymond D. Nasher has acquired The Tragedy of Life (1910), an emotionally-charged bronze by Boleslaw Biegas, an artist little-known in this country but highly important in the European Symbolist movement. The sculpture is now on display in the Nasher Sculpture Center’s first gallery with other late 19th and early 20th century works.
Gripping in its presentation of terror and suffering, Biegas’ The Tragedy of Life is a life-size nude woman standing upright, clawing at her eyes and clamping her mouth shut as if to stifle a cry. Her anguish is projected through intense detailing of face, hair, and hands, which contrasts with the serene and classical proportions of the lower body.
“Even the most agonized figures by Auguste Rodin do not approach this level of extreme distress,” says Nasher director Steven Nash. “There simply is no sculptural equivalent in early modern art.”
The purchase of The Tragedy of Life came to fruition after Nasher founder Raymond Nasher and Steven Nash happened across the piece on a recent trip to Paris. After viewing several Rodins at a small Left Bank gallery, they were taken to a back room where other sculptures were in storage, including The Tragedy of Life. Although neither one of them had heard of the artist at the time, they were captivated by the sculpture’s presence and decided to put it on hold. Several months of research later, the decision was made to purchase The Tragedy of Life and to make its permanent home in the Nasher Collection.
“I was dumbstruck when I first saw it,” Mr. Nasher says. “It reminded me of The Scream, that great painting by Edvard Munch. The surface of the bronze is beautiful, but the dramatic aspect of the face and hair and arms is incredible.”
Biegas was born in Poland in 1877 with the name Boleslaw Biegalski. Although orphaned at a young age, his talent for sculpting figures eventually led him to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Kraków, where he was taught by Symbolist artists who drew on the work of Munch and the Vienna Secession group. In 1901, Biegas showed work at the Vienna Secession and the Universal Exposition in Munich demonstrating an expressionist style of distorted form and highly dramatic interpretation. Soon afterwards, he moved to Paris, where he lived until his death in 1954 at age 77.
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For more information, please contact:
Kristen Mills Gibbins
Communications Manager
214.242.5177
kgibbins@NasherSculptureCenter.org